February 16, 2016 AT 3:00 am

While his project is still a work in progress, Leon Bellan was able to succesfully 3D print living capillaries using a cotton candy machine. via fastcodesign

In a new article published in the Advanced Healthcare Materials journal, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt University named Leon Bellan reports that he was able to create a gelatinous cube of artificial capillaries with a modified cotton candy machine. Not only was the cube of microfluidic channels alive, but he was able to keep it from dying for more than a week, significantly longer than most alternate methods. The technique could open the door to being able to 3-D print working artificial organs.